Polybius, the Greek historian stated: "The Romans themselves, find it impossible to say for sure whether the system is an aristocracy, a democracy, or a monarchy." In the Roman republic, whatever the true nature of their 'system' of government, one thing was for sure; if you were a citizen you 'mattered.' One thing that could make life a bit difficult for any politicians seeking public office was that the Roman electorate knew they counted for something. The most illustrious candidates for magistracies had to court the voters. It is a credit to the Republic that these canidates for magistracies did not feel any embarrassment in doing so. A strong component that many Roman voters shared was voting for nobility that had strong name recognition. The practical effect this had on many men who were elected to office was of the electorate voting for a particular nobility's whole lineage. A son would be elected after a father, a father after a grandfather and so on. In fact, the Republic's voters fed the nobility's dynastic pretensions time and time again. The goals of the most downtrodden and poverty stricken citizens were not to change society, but to become a wealthier and more status laden member of it. Roman citizens appeared to have no problem with the inequalities of their society. The class struggle that had made the plebians equal to the patricians (in the area of attaining office and voting) was a memory of an almost forgotten past. This was an irony that was typical of the Republic. The plebians, with the abolition of legal restrictions on their advancement in 367 BC, had in effect castrated their own movement. When this decree was passed, wealthy plebian families had lost all incentive to side with the poor. In one of the continued turnabouts we see when history is examined, the wealthy plebian families were not much different at all to the poor plebian when compared to the former patrician oppressors. In fact, to a large degree, the wealthy plebs now ran the show. Magistracies that before 367 BC could only be held by members of the patrician class were now used to advance the careers and ambitions of plebian noblemen. The office of the tribunate was one in particular that afforded spectacular opportunities for grandstanding.
The tribunes had the renowned power of the "veto" over bills they disliked and added to that, they could convene public assemblies to pass bills of their own. As with all political offices it could be very unwise for a tribune to overstep the bounds of his office. The tribuante was a very paradoxical office in some ways. The office itself presented enormous opportunities for underhandedness. However, the unwritten rules of the office made it an almost sacred institution. Since ancient times the person of a tribune was inviolable, and anyone who crossed over the line and did lay their hands on one, was considered to have laid hands upon the gods themselves. In exchange for his much vaunted status a tribune was obliged never to leave Rome during his year in office, and always to keep an open house. The tribune had to pay close attention to people's complaints and hardships. He would have to listen to them whenever they stopped him on the street. A tribune was even obliged to read the graffiti on public monuments that either encouraged or discouraged him from passing new laws! No matter how ambitious at heart a man might be who chose to run for election to the tribunate, he could never afford to appear snobbish or uppity.
For anyone who stops by to read this blog-I still have more information that is ready to post-I am a lousy typist and just had to stop typing for the eve. I am still trying to come up with other information from other eras to post here-there are several other historical eras and questions of the hows and whys of empires I would like to do-I just dont have it all together yet. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!
